Last modified: April 11, 2024
Effective Date: April 25, 2024
Thank you for visiting FamilyTreeDNA (“our,” “us,” or “we”). This Law Enforcement Guide (this “Guide”) is intended for customers who have opted in to Investigative Genetic Genealogy Matching (“IGGM”) and Law Enforcement Agencies (as defined below) seeking information relating to our accounts or our users.
We are a direct-to-consumer DNA testing service that provides information and tools for individuals interested in learning about their DNA. Users can create family trees and connect with relatives through our DNA database. Additional information is available in our Terms of Service and our Privacy Statement, including details about the information we collect. Capitalized terms that are not defined here are defined in our Terms of Service.
The following definitions apply to this Guide:
You agree not to use the Services for any Law Enforcement Purpose unless you are a Law Enforcement Agency or are acting on behalf of, or at the direction of, a Law Enforcement Agency.
Each Law Enforcement Agency is required to create a limited access Law Enforcement Agency account (a “Law Enforcement Account”) and register all forensic samples and genetic files prior to uploading to our database for Law Enforcement Purposes. Permission to use the Service for Law Enforcement Purposes is only granted after all required documentation is submitted, reviewed, and approved by us or, if applicable, by our third-party licensees.
Permission to use the Service for Law Enforcement Purposes is only granted in the following cases (a “Qualifying Case”):
Requests to submit a sample or genetic file to upload into our database for Law Enforcement Purposes in connection with a Qualifying Case should be sent to forensics@genebygene.com or, for circumstances where a third-party Law Enforcement licensee is providing access to our database, to an email address provided by such third-party. We will provide responses to requests from a Law Enforcement Agency only if permission is granted or if we require additional information from the Law Enforcement Agency. Expected response time is 1-2 business days from the date of submittal.
Each Law Enforcement Agency is required to provide the following case-related information when submitting a request:
We take every action possible to protect user privacy. We make every effort to give the minimum degree of cooperation legally required when complying with legal requests for any additional user information that are outside of the process described above for Law Enforcement Agencies using Law Enforcement Accounts (a “Legal Request”).
In certain circumstances, we may be required by law to comply with a valid court order, valid trial, grand jury, subpoena, or search warrant for additional personal or genetic information. We require a valid legal process to consider producing any additional information about our users not stated in our Terms of Service, Privacy Statement, or this Guide.
We will release basic user information as defined in 18 USC § 2703(c)(2) to Law Enforcement only in response to a valid administrative subpoena, trial, or grand jury.
We will release additional account information or transactional information pertaining to an account only in response to a court order issued pursuant to 18 USC § 2703(d).
We will only consider inquiries from a government agency with proper jurisdiction.
If we receive a valid request to preserve information potentially relevant to legal proceedings pursuant to 18 USC § 2703(f), we will preserve, but not disclose, a temporary snapshot of the relevant account records for 90 days pending service of valid legal process.
We respond to a valid legal process issued in compliance with applicable law.
All Legal Requests for user account information must include:
Each Legal Request should be made in writing and must be submitted by certified mail, express courier, or in person at the address provided below; and an additional copy may be sent by email. We will not accept legal process by email unless the Legal Request is an emergency request. Our contact information is available at the bottom of this Guide. Legal Requests made in writing must be made on Law Enforcement letterhead and be signed by the responsible Law Enforcement officer.
For service of legal process, please contact us at the following address:
FamilyTreeDNA
Attn: Legal Department, Law Enforcement Request
1445 N Loop W Suite 820
Houston, TX 77008
United States
Email Address: legal@genebygene.com
Unless we are legally barred from doing so, our policy for any request of additional user information is to notify users of the Legal Request and supply a copy of the Legal Request prior to disclosure. In the U.S., Law Enforcement officials may prohibit this disclosure by submitting a court order pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b) or state statute signed by a judge. We will assess Legal Requests not to notify users from Law Enforcement outside the U.S. under applicable law. For all Legal Requests, we may also elect, in our sole discretion, not to notify the user if doing so would be considered counterproductive and if we are not legally permitted to do so.
We are working on publishing an updated report that will contain details on Legal Requests submitted through a valid court order, valid trial, grand jury, subpoena, or search warrant for additional personal or genetic information.
We may modify this Guide at any time. We will provide advance notice of any material changes to this Guide, such as, but not limited to, sending an email or posting a notice on our website to allow the opportunity to review the changes and decide whether to continue using our Services.
Non-material changes to this Statement will be notified as of their effective date by posting a notice through the Services on our Website or by sending you an email. After notice of such changes, your continued use of our Services means you confirm that you were informed regarding the updated Privacy Statement.